Grain-purifying process.



UNITED STATES PATENT orrron.

EARL H. REYNOLDS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

GRAIN-PURIFYING PROCESS.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EARL H. REYNOLDS,

a citizen of the United States, residing in Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Grain-Purifying Processes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a grain purifying process by which oats, barley, or other grains are treated with fumes, such as those of sulfur, for the purpose of purifying and whitening the grain and destroying any rust or other infection by which it may have been discolored, or otherwise superficially impaired. And the invention has for an object the providing of a process in which the purifying and whitening shall be more effectively accomplished and any residual odor or taste-left by the fumes shall be neutralized and removed; and the invention has for further objects such other improvements in function or result as may be found to obtain in the process hereinafter described or claimed.

The process preferably consists in superficially moistening the grain, in any convenient manner, with a saturated aqueous solution of common salt and subjecting it, while so moistened, to the whitening action of sulfurous fumes. The total moisture of the grain exposed to the fumes should not exceed about fifteen per centum; and as the natural moisture of the grain, before it is artificially moistened with the saline solution, commonly approaches fourteen per centum, the moisture artificially-added should be only enough to make up about the small difference in these percentages, although the proportion will be much higher where the grain received for treatment is unusually dry; or it may be unsafe to raise the moisture to so high a percentage when the grain is or may be exposed to extreme hot weather conditions. A total moisture exceeding about fifteen per centum is likely to cause the grain to heat and thus render it unfit for use, and even a less percentage may be unsafe under extreme hot weather conditions. But in view of the fact that the salinity of the solution tends to keep down the heating of the grain, the use of such solution'permits a relatively higher superficial moistening of the grain than is safe with Specification of ietters Patent.

4 Patented Feb. 1 '7, 1914. Application filed July 31, 1911. Serial'No. 641,578.

plain aqueous moistening, and such higher 7 degree of moistening materially increases the effectiveness of the fumes on the grain and may even reduce the amount of fumes required to produce a desired degree of whitening. Mere superficial moistening, as contradistinguished from soaking or saturation, is essential, because soaking or saturation would not only make the grain so wet as to require prohibitively costly and tedious subsequent drying, but would also, even if it could be dried promptly enou h, leave so much residual salinity as to ren er it unfit for feeding or other practical use. It is found that this process of treatment causes the grain to be more effectively whitened and purified, and at the same time neutralizes and removes any slight residual odor or taste that the fumes may leave, and so renders the grain especially clean and pure not only in appearance but also in flavor, making it more palatable to stock, and otherwise improved.

The preferred method of practising my invention is hereinabove set forth, but it maybe otherwise practised within the scope of the claims hereinafter made.

I claim 1. A process of purifying grain, consisting in superficially moist-ening the grain with a saline solution and subjecting it, while so moistened, to sulfurous whitening fumes, substantially as specified.

2. A process of purifying grain, consisting in superficially moistening the grain with a solution of common salt and subjecting it, while so moistened, to sulfurous whitening fumes, substantially as specified.

3. A process of purifying grain, consisting in superficially moistening the grain with a saline solution, until the added moisture and the natural moisture together bring the total moisture of the grain to about fifteen per centum, and subjecting said grain,

while so moistened, to sulfurous whitening fumes, substantially as specified.

Subscribed in the presence of two subscribing witnesses this 28th day of July, 

